Finland Joins NATO Doubling Border Length, Russia Issues Warning

The Finland foreign minister signed the accession document, and Finland has become the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) security alliance.
The move is a strategic and political blow to Russia's Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly complained about NATO's expansion toward Russia and partly used that as a justification for invading Ukraine.
Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, hence the length of Russia's border with Nato member states has now doubled.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Russia would be "watching closely" what happens in Finland, describing Nato's enlargement as a "violation of our security and our national interests."
But Russia has warned that further NATO expansion will not bring more stability to Europe and said it would scale up forces near Finland if the alliance sent any troops or equipment to the new member country.
The invasion drove non-aligned Finland and Sweden to abandon neutrality and seek protection within NATO.
Sweden has also applied. But objections from alliance members Turkey and Hungary have delayed the process.